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​Biodiversity, God's blessing calls us to Care for Creation

What have toilets got to do with climate change?

November 10, 2020
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Flood, drought and rising sea levels threaten sanitation systems – from toilets to septic tanks to treatment plants. Everyone must have sustainable sanitation that can withstand climate change and keep communities healthy and functioning.             Learn More

       #WorldToiletDay                                              November 19 is www.worldtoiletday.org

​More than 14m tonnes of plastic believed to be at the bottom of the ocean

October 6. 2020 - The Guardian

Thirty times more plastic on ocean floor than surface, analysis suggests, but more trapped on land than sea

​                         Learn More

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 Photograph: Paulo Oliveira/Alamy Stock Photo

Tiny but deadly: Cigarette butts

September 10, 2010 - EARTHDAY.ORG
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If I asked you, what is the most common form of plastic pollution, what would you say? Plastic bottles? Straws? 
While these are good guesses, they are not the correct answer. Cigarette butts are actually the most abundant form of plastic waste in the world, with about 4.5 trillion individual butts polluting our global environment. 
But wait, aren’t cigarette butts made of cotton or paper? NO, cigarette butts are primarily plastic.
                          ....READ MORE


Urgent action is needed now!

Canadians throw away three million tonnes of plastic each year.
September 3, 2020 - Environmental Defense
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Last June, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that Canada would ban certain single-use plastics as early as 2021. But with only four months left in the year, this government is running out of time to keep its promise.              TAKE ACTION!

What happened when we all stopped” narrated by Jane Goodal

July 27, 2020

Urge Prime Minister to take urgent and swift measures to address climate emergency - please take action

June 24, 2020
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In celebration of the 5th anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, the Joint Ecological Ministry (JEM) called on Catholics across Canada to unite and demand the government “take immediate concrete actions to flatten the curve of global warming and move towards a just and sustainable future.”

We are calling on all Secular Franciscans and their fraternities to support this call on government to act now. Download the model letter that you can use, modify and send to Trudeau. Be sure to add a date at the top and name with signature at the end.  (The letter was originally prepared by Catholics United for Climate Action c/o Ministry for Social Justice, Peace, and Creation Care, Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto)

We’re making garbage patches on the ocean floor, too​

May 7, 2020 - Ars Technica
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Photo: I Kane, 2020
Microplastics are transported in the deep sea by turbidity currents and bottom currents, which concentrate them in hotspots known as sediment drifts.  ....read more

Sigh of relief from earth!

Uplifting message from National Geographic.
April 30, 2020

​NASA images show a decrease in China's pollution

March 3, 2020
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                  The satellite images have detected a significant decreases in nitrogen dioxide over China.

(CNN)Satellite images released by NASA and the European Space Agency reveal that air pollution over China has gone down since the coronavirus outbreak.

Production in many factories has been halted and transportation has been restricted to prevent spreading the virus....READ MORE

                 This is an amazing change showing that there is hope! - FVC

UPDATE:
​Teck withdraws application for $20B Frontier oilsands mine

February 24, 2020 - CBC

Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd., has withdrawn its application to build a massive oilsands project in northern Alberta, citing the ongoing debate over climate policy in Canada.
              ......Read More

   This is great news. Now if we could only get government investing in the alternatives!
​ - FVC

​8 Reasons To Reject Teck’s Massive New Tar Sands Mine

February 10, 2020 - GCCM Canada

Work at an existing tar sands mine. If completed, the Frontier mine would be the largest ever - covering an area twice the size of Vancouver. 
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This megaproject would impact Indigenous communities, derail Canada’s ability to meet our climate targets, and destroy habitats critical for iconic species at risk of extinction. All for the sake of the pocketbooks of a small number of corporate executives.
​

Read the 8 reasons to reject Tecks new massive tar sand mine - Take Action

Leaders are moving in the right direction -
​​Britain to ban the sale of new gas, diesel and hybrid cars - 2035

February 5, 2020 - NBC News
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LONDON — Britain will ban the sale of new gas, diesel and hybrid vehicles from 2035, five years earlier than planned, in an attempt to reduce air pollution and fossil fuel emissions, the government announced on Tuesday.      READ MORE...

​Sobeys to stop using plastic shopping bags - Jan 31, 2020

January 23, 2020 - Global NB
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Great news! Thanks Sobeys.
​...all 255 Sobeys stores across Canada will switch from plastic to paper and reusable bags at check stands by the end of January.
Sobeys, which is owned by Empire Company Ltd., estimates the move will eliminate 225 million plastic check stand bags – just over 1,200 tonnes – every year.     Read more...

​​Creation care cannot be an afterthought

December 8, 2019 - the B.C. Catholic by Christine Legal
Four and a half years after the publication of Laudato Si’, Catholic enthusiasm for the environment is still going strong.
​

At the global level, for example, there is the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM), an umbrella organization representing over 650 Catholic groups and tens of thousands of individuals from all over the planet. To date, members have hosted hundreds of prayer services; marched by the tens of thousands in mass climate demonstrations; divested millions of dollars from fossil fuel investments (including by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines and Caritas agencies in Italy, Singapore, Australia, and Norway); and collected nearly one million signatures on a climate petition that was endorsed by Pope Francis and submitted to GOP leaders at the Paris climate talks.
​
               ....READ MORE
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FVC Editor Margaret Ross, ofs, with a sign showing how she tries to #LiveLaudatoSi as a member of A Rocha Canada.

​Climate scientists warn we're on the precipice of disastrous 'tipping points'

November 30, 2019 - CBC Radio​
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A glacier lagoon is seen in southern Iceland in July 2017. (CNS/Thomson Reuters Foundation/Thin Lei Win)
Slow temperature changes could 'tip over' into catastrophic, fast and irreversible transformation - CBC Radio · Posted: Nov 29, 2019 4:22 PM ET
​
The world may be teetering on the brink of a potentially irreversible cascade of climate tipping points that scientists say could lead to an "existential threat to civilization." 
According to a new commentary published in the prestigious science journal Nature, we are so close to at least one or two of these tipping points — the thresholds beyond which a slow change tips over into big and abrupt planetary transformations — that we can't rule out the process has already begun.    Read More....                     Listen 9:51 - CBC Radio
Also see: ‘Bleak’ U.N. Report on a Planet in Peril Looms Over New Climate Talks
  from the New York Times

​Ban chlorpyrifos!

November 28, 2019 - Avaaz
It’s the most dangerous pesticide you’ve never heard of, linked to cancer, brain damage, and nerve disorders -- and it’s everywhere.

Chlorpyrifos is the chemical industry’s dirtiest secret, topping sales everywhere, but kept from the media spotlight. And it’s no surprise — it traces back to nerve agents developed in a Nazi lab! Now it’s in our food, air and drinking water.       Read more
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Add your voice

​Coca-Cola is world's biggest plastics polluter – again

November 9, 2019 - The Guardian

​Volunteers in 51 countries collected plastic waste and the soft drink manufacturer’s products cropped up the most often Coca-Cola has been named the world’s largest polluter of plastics for the second year in a row, according to an ​
audit conducted by Break Free From Plastic.

                   READ MORE
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​ROUND THE WORLD LEG 1 IS COMPLETE – CREW ARRIVE IN THE AZORES

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October 21, 2019
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Well done to our leg one crew who have just arrived in Ponta Delgada, in São Miguel dos Açores on board S.V. TravelEdge on Monday 21st October having completed the first leg of eXXpedition Round the World - Leg 1 Plymouth to Azores with Rothy's. 
They will take part in a series of land-based research and community outreach activities around Ponta Delgada before a new crew departs on Leg 2: North Atlantic Gyre from Azores to Antigua with Copernicus Marine Service on the 28th October 2019.          LEARN MORE

Greta Thurberg blasts world leaders in emotional speech

September 26, 2019 - Global News
Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg on Monday opened the United Nations Climate Action Summit with an angry condemnation of world leaders for failing to take strong measures to combat climate change.

Climate change is the most important life issue today - Dan Horan

September 5, 2019 - NCR
In recent decades there has been some nasty infighting among Catholics who argue about which life issue is the most important, especially in guiding one's political choices. Some groups — often the loudest — say abortion is the single most important life issue. Others say euthanasia or assisted suicide is the most important. Still others, in keeping with the church's longstanding tradition of the sanctity of all life, say that we cannot single out one such issue but recognize that as Catholics we must maintain a consistent ethic of life, an ethical outlook sometimes referred to as the "seamless garment" approach... 
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A glacier lagoon is seen in southern Iceland in July 2017. (CNS/Thomson Reuters Foundation/Thin Lei Win)
Instead of working to solve the crisis ...Trump and his administration are actively exacerbating it. According to a New York Times report published last week, the Trump Administration has "rolled back" 84 environmental rules and policies so far.

... While I agree with the intellectual and moral integrity of the consistent ethic of life principle, which upholds that every human life — born and unborn — is inherently valuable, dignified, and must be protected, we live in a time in which there is now a more fundamental issue that threatens all life: climate change. For this reason, it seems to me dangerously shortsighted to propose directing our attention, argumentative energies, and financial resources to any singular anthropocentric ethical issue. The stakes are too high for us now to be so myopic. 
Global climate change threatens every life now and poses an existential danger to the very condition of the possibility for future life on this planet. If we are called to be moral agents guided by a seamless garment approach, as I believe we are, then climate change is the body on which such a garment hangs.The preservation of particular human lives is predicated on the future of the planet and delicate ecosystems on it that make life possible at all.           .... READ ALL

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​The Story of Bottled Water

June 24, 2019 
This is an older video, but it is still so relevant today that we thought we should post it now. Take note of the suggestions made; a time for action. (8:04 min)

​Billion Dollar Buyout

Report – Billion Dollar Buyout: How Canadian taxpayers bought a climate-killing pipeline and Trump’s trade deal supports it
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Less than 24 hours after declaring a climate emergency, the Trudeau government announced it will be moving forward with the climate-polluting Trans Mountain pipeline project.

This project will ensure the expansion of the tar sands in Alberta, Canada’s largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and take us even more off track from meeting our environmental commitments in the face of impending climate disaster.

Beyond that, a new report outlines why the Trans Mountain pipeline is a bad economic choice and the benefits of the project have been grossly overstated.

Petition: Tell Trudeau to stop the Trans Mountain pipeline

​7 secrets that forests have been keeping from you

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May 27, 2019 - FAO UN
Forests do more for us than we realize. They clean our water and filter our air, and they provide food, medicine and fuel for more than a billion people worldwide. ​
Here are 7 ways how and some of their best kept secrets:
  1. Supermarkets – Almost 50 percent of the fruit we eat comes from trees...​
  2. Life insurance - Some communities rely almost exclusively on forests for their food sources. Around 40 percent of the extreme rural poor – around 250 million people...
  3. Water Fountain- Forests provide a large part of the drinking water...
  4. Energy - Around one-third of the world’s population use wood as their source of energy for necessities such as cooking, boiling water and heating...
  5. Superhero- Forests and trees...are like Superman....in the fight against climate change...removing pollutants....tackle land degradation and stand up against biodiversity loss ...
  6. Carbon sinks - act as carbon sinks, absorbing the equivalent of roughly 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year...
  7. Recreation – Trees are stress relievers...Nature-based tourism is growing ...accounts for... 20 % of the global market...
                            Read full article

Human society under urgent threat from loss of Earth's natural life

Scientists reveal 1 million species at risk of extinction in damning UN report
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Human society is in jeopardy from the accelerating decline of the Earth’s natural life-support systems, the world’s leading scientists have warned, as they announced the results of the most thorough planetary health check ever undertaken.

From coral reefs flickering out beneath the oceans to rainforests desiccatinginto savannahs, nature is being destroyed at a rate tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the past 10m years, according to the UN globalassessment report.
​
The biomass of wild mammals has fallen by 82%, natural ecosystems have lost about half their area and a million species are at risk of extinction – all largely as a result of human actions, said the study, compiled over three years by more than 450 scientists and diplomats
.

                       Read the full article which has many facts and photos.

Protect Our Species on Endangered Species Day!

May 15, 2019
​

May 17th, 2019, will mark the 14th annual Endangered Species Day. By working together, we can stem the tide of extinction and preserve our natural heritage for future generations. 

​ LEARN MORE
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​If we care about plastic waste, why won’t we stop drinking bottled water?

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 Photograph: Jan-Otto/Getty Images
April 30, 2019 - The Guardian
We have all seen the damage plastic waste is doing around the world – but sales of bottled water have continued to grow.
Environmental campaigners are struggling to fathom why nations blessed with clean tap water grow only fonder of the bottle.
“Public awareness has never been higher, but the message is not quite reaching all the people it needs to.”          READ MORE

​Where Your Recycled Plastic Ends Up - Trashing the Planet

April 27, 2019 - The Story of Stuff Project

Call on Canada to become part of the solution​

April 23, 2019 - Amnesty International
People who speak out to defend land, water and forests in Latin America are seeking to protect the rights and well-being of their communities.

 In turn, they face unprecedented attacks and killings for the essential work they do, with Indigenous people and racial minorities experiencing the greatest danger.
​It's a terrifying situation, emblemized by the murder of Lenca Indigenous water defender, Berta Cáceres.
The toll of earth defenders lost to deadly violence continues to grow in Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia, and other countries in Latin America.      Learn More
Take Action Today!
They are not giving up; neither should we. Our Federal Government made promises to appoint an Ombudsman (with power) which they have not kept! - FVC

Canada warming at twice the global rate!

April 4, 2019 - CBC National
In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report stressing the urgency for nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to a level achieving a limit of 1.5 degrees C. 

Nations are far behind in achieving this level and emissions are due to increase again this year.  
Everyone feels the effects of the warming temperatures with the Arctic and Antarctic noticing significant changes. As a nation, Canada is warming the fastest according to recent news.  (Felician Sister of N. America)

Human Right to  Clean Water 

February 21, 2019 - Blue Ocean Network
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​International Straw Free Day was February 3rd. Plastic straws never biodegrade and are in the oceans and landfills forever. 
 
Did you notice that you rarely if ever use a straw at home but always take one when you eat out? Here's the challenge: Can you go without using a straw every day? Can you say "no" to plastic straws when you eat out? Do it every time and ask others to do the same.                   Learn more

SumOfUs pushes Ottawa to speed up plan to ban bee-killing pesticides

February 14, 2019 - SumOfUs
Canada's bid to ban wildlife-damaging chemicals by 2025 is too slow, says environmental group's co-founder. 
 Bees are dying -- and all the evidence is pointing towards toxic neonic pesticides as being the main culprit for the death of these vital creatures.
 Call on the Federal government to pass legislation to save the bees and neonics by the end of 2019.             Sign Petition
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Photo: Andrea Reiman(@firstmohican)

Earth Day 2019: Protect Our Species

January 30, 2019  -  Earth Day Network
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Earth Day (April 22) 2019 marks the 49th anniversary of the first Earth Day. We are excited to announce that our theme this year is ​Protect Our Species! 
Nature's gifts to our planet are the millions of species that we know and love. Many more species remain to be discovered. Unfortunately, the world is facing the greatest rate of extinction since the extinction of the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago.
The impacts are far-reaching. Here are some quick facts on the current wave of extinction and additional background information about this problem.
All living things have value in and of themselves and each one plays a unique role in the complex web of life.
Earth Day Network has developed Toolkits that contain ideas for actions and resources to help you and your communities participate in Earth Day 2019's Protect Our Species campaign.
​                                                              
                                                                 LEARN MORE

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December 5, 2018
(They) are looking for multidisciplinary women to join our crew. You don't need to be an experienced sailor – we want individuals who are passionate about tackling ocean plastic with different skillsets and from different backgrounds. 
Learn More

2 years. 30 voyages. 300 women.

Round the World 2019-2021 is an all-female sailing voyage and scientific research mission. Over 38,000 nautical miles and 30 voyage legs starting and ending in the United Kingdom, eXXpedition crews will explore plastics and toxics in our ocean, via four of the five oceanic gyres and the Arctic.
Connected by a passion to protect our shared ocean, it will enable 300 women to go to sea as hands-on crew and experience first hand the challenges we face from single-use plastics, while contributing to cutting-edge scientific research and solutions-based thinking.

Plastic Production Pollutes Small Town

December 2, 2018 - The Story of Stuff
A mini-documentary exploring the connection between plastic and fossil fuels?

TELL CANADA YOU WANT TO END PLASTIC WASTE

November 19, 2018 - environmental defence
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Next week, Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial environment ministers are meeting in Ottawa to finalize their national plan to fight plastic pollution.  It’s vital that the plan is both ambitious and enforceable if we’re going to improve our terrible 11 per cent recycling rate for plastic waste. ​Sign the petition now to make sure they know you want a plastic waste free environment by 2025. Learn more

CBC TV, The Weekly, looks at the Glyphosate (Round-up) concern

November 11, 2018 - CBC TV, The Weekly
In March 7, 2016, Franciscan Voice Canada wrote, "According to the World Health Organisation, the chemical contained in Monsanto's Roundup weed killer can cause cancer. It's so pervasive that it is found everywhere: in our bread, our tampons, and even in breast milk." The concerns have not gone away. Listen to the story on CBC, the Weekly. In the last year Monsanto was bought by Bayers making them an even greater force to be concerned with. 
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See the CBC story here

60% of world's wildlife has been wiped out since 1970!!

October 30, 2018 - WWF & CBC
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Well over half the world's population of vertebrates, from fish to birds to mammals, have been wiped out in the past four decades, says a new report from the ​World Wildlife Fund.
Between 1970 and 2014, there was 60 per cent decline, on average, among 16,700 wildlife populations around the world according to the 2018 edition of the Living Planet Report released Monday. 
"We've had a loss of nearly two-thirds, on average, of our wild species," said James Snider, vice-president of science, research and innovation for WWF-Canada. WWF News Release  (Digital Journal)
"The magnitude of that should be eye opening… We really are reaching a point where we're likely to see species go extinct. That's true in Canada and abroad."
The WWF says the biggest drivers of the declines are habitat loss and overexploitation, but says climate change is a growing threat.

                    READ THE CBC STORY (Oct 29, 2018)
Why Canada's endangered species are declining faster than ever (CBC News - Sept 14, 2017) 
​

The federal government decided not to list certain populations of Atlantic cod, Atlantic bluefin tuna and B.C. chinook and sockeye salmon, contrary to scientists' recommendations.
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A Westcoast fish hatchery​ is trying desperately
to save the salmon
What took 100's of millions of years to create man is destroying in a couple of 100 years. Government inaction is no longer an option.
Let us all speak up! 
Learn what you can do and act!
- FVC

 Bishops' Urge Strong Action on Climate Change

October 29, 2018 - CRUX

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This world is pregnant with God, Saint Angela of Foligno, ofs, 1248-1309

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